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This was my chance to do something of my own, for me and me alone. I was placed with three other people. First on the zipline link was an older couple in their 50’s, from Chicago. Next up there was a twenty-something young woman from Brooklyn, New York. She and I immediately starting chatting and sharing stories. We were both in Costa Rica with other people and yet we had both arrived here today, solo. It was going to be her first zipline experience also. The three men running the show were playful and encouraging as if they were everyone’s older brothers. They bred positivity into the surrounding atmosphere, smiles were immediately soaked up by myself, the other adventure Hungries. The air whipped around our bodies; spreading the excitement of the impending day. Jose, the group leader, informed us that the first line (out of seven) was the highest and longest. I let myself momentarily forget this message as I climbed the spiral staircase. My hands had a slight tremor within them. But that was soon suppressed as I looked up and out at my surroundings. To my right in the distance I could see the blue waters grasping for the sky; the slither of sand tracing the land, encapsulating the warmth that buzzed throughout the town. To my left, lay the zipline retreating deep into the Tamarindo forest. I could see there was a tight gap surrounding the line with lush greenery hugging the outer edges of where I would soon be. Rider one, zip! Rider two, zip! Rider three (my fellow zipline virgin) then saddled up. She was nervous, I could tell. Not only because she had told me directly a handful of times but because she expelled vibrations of inexperience. “You can do it, you got this” I cheered her on. Jose backing me up. Whoosh, off she went. Then Jose turned his glance backward at me “Ok, your turn” he said. So nonchalant. As if it were simply my turn in line at the grocery store. I exhaled slowly, attempting to breathe out my unnecessary worries. Jose saddled me up. He placed my left hand on the grip point in front of my torso and then my right on the leather brake strap placed directly behind my head. “This is your first time?” he confirmed. I nodded, “Yep” attempting to sound confident. He paused then took my right hand and placed it atop my left hand. Both hands holding strong on the harness that cradled my body. “Ok, ready. Lift your feet up”. I sat deep in the harness and lifted my feet off the wooden plank, one foot trailing a half-second behind the other. “Here we go, ready?” “Yeah” I stated with some forced bravado. I felt the absence of his hand on my back as I set soaring down the line. All I could see ahead of me was the entrance gap to the forest, but past that my vision disappeared. I ducked my head timidly as I rushed into the unknown greenery. Then my heart swelled within me, my lips stretched into a grin, my chest opened, as I breathed in the forest. I was the wind in the air. Swallowed whole by Mother Nature, I became a part of her. I was home.